Burning Question: Anchovies on pizza, yes or no?

Why is pizza so divisive?

It shouldn’t be, really. There are few foods Americans agree on more than pizza. An overwhelming 94 percent claimed to have ordered at least one in a 30-day period. Almost three-quarters admit to craving a pie for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Those are powerful numbers. And since they come from a poll conducted by a pizza chain called Donatos, there’s no reason for doubt.

Yet Canada and Iceland—peaceful nations both—almost came to diplomatic blows over toppings. Mention Chicago-style pizza in the vicinity of a New Yorker and you best be prepared to run. And Jeano Abraham still recalls the shocked response when he introduced chicken on a pie at Allegro some 30 years ago.

Abraham has a history of creating innovative pizza at his popular spot in Carmel’s Barnyard. And he’s one of the few, it seems, who casts the dish in a bipartisan light.

“Pizza is a good platform for anything,” he explains. “We used to have some really amazing Sicilian pizza with capers and anchovies…”

Whoa. Hold up there. Did he actually use the A word?

According to the aforementioned 2022 survey, an overwhelming majority of Americans recoil at the thought of anchovies on pizza. It is, by that reckoning, the least favorite pizza topping, drawing less support than pineapple.

The general distaste for anchovies is backed by more data. A YouGov study in 2021 found that 61 percent of Americans found the oily, hairy fish too disturbing for pizza comfort, beating out eggplant, artichoke and broccoli as the worst possible topping.

Um…broccoli? Who does that?

Anyway, pineapple registered a mere 35 percent in the no column, at least according to YouGov. (A quick poll of Weekly staffers, who wolf down three pies every week—not a pretty sight—came to a much higher figure).

When Allegro opened, the menu included selections with the fish. But they were soon removed front the listings.

“I saw so many anchovies thrown away,” Abraham recalls.

Despite all this, many restaurants continue to stock anchovies, even if they are reluctant to use them.

“We’ve never come out and actually made an anchovy pizza,” says David Rodriguez, owner of The Oven in Seaside, a local favorite. He points out, however, that guests often request the fish—but there’s a catch: “They ask for them on the side.”

Rodriguez speculates that diners who call for a separate plate of the onerous little pelts are sharing a pizza with a naysayer who is “not ready to take the dive.”

Moreover, he’s not ready to accept the survey numbers. In fact, Rodriguez doesn’t believe people actually despise anchovies.

We’re not sure about that. Writing about the Olsen twins and their—this is going to hurt—rap touting fish on pizza, Paste’s Chris Morgan noted that the child stars “were dangerous lunatics and their behavior should not be condoned,” which kind of sounds like hate.

“I don’t find hatred,” he explains. “It’s more of a visceral thing.” In other words, there is no real familiarity with the briny fish, only an ingrained response.

Where does this come from? It would be easy to blame Patrick Dempsey.

Yes—that Patrick Dempsey. Anchovy pizza is the butt of attempted humor in his 1989 film Loverboy. But common sense suggests that Dempsey alone could not sway a few hundred million minds. Taylor Swift, Oprah, Ted from Chopped—sure. Not Dempsey.

Historians who risk tenure on such matters say that anchovy on bread predates what we know as pizza by, oh, a few thousand years. The Romans seasoned pretty much anything, including unleavened bread, with a paste of fermented fish parts known as garum (and no, it’s not true that garum-breath came between Julius Caesar and Cleopatra).

Pizza in its modern form began to emerge in the 1700s. And one of the first common styles involved crushed tomatoes and anchovies—simple, inexpensive fare that became a form of comfort to Italian working classes. The fish were quite popular because they were so readily available.

Waves of Italian immigrants brought pizza to the American mainstream, where inferior tins of furry salt filets eventually lost out to pepperoni—still the favorite topping.

And that would appear to settle the Burning Question in the negative. People just don’t like anchovies. Finally, something we can agree on besides pizza in general.

Except that each year, more diners are coming around. And, really, anchovies never went away.

“It’s a long story, but yes—people like anchovies,” Abraham says. “We have a lot of Italian customers.”

“It’s a mind blown kind of thing,” Rodriguez adds, referring to those who first realize that anchovies are important to a Caesar salad and can do more.

So it is indeed OK to put anchovies on pizza. “Hatred,” Rodriguez points out, “is saved for pineapple.”

But that’s another matter. Pizza unites, pizza divides.